Notes: The single-storey terminus at Newmarket was imposing; Biddle (1973) considers it a prime example of an elaborate terminal station serving a small branch-line company out of all proportion to the company’s size, importance and capital. He describes it as possessing incredible classical opulence, and considers that nothing quite like it appeared before or since on Britain’s railways. It was composed of three buildings and had, at the end, a severely practical goods shed next to an Italianate station house and, first in line, what has been described as a ‘Baroque orangery’. This remarkable structure boasted a succession of tall, finely hooded windows, interspersed with coupled Ionic columns, all rising above a deep cornice to richly ornamented caps. There were seven bays in ashlar stone. The architect is likely to have been either Philip Hardwick or John Braithwaite, the latter being responsible for many of the buildings on the line. There was a single platform covered by a trainshed at its north end: the decorative front of the trainshed was removed circa late 1930s. An island platform was later provided outside the trainshed for use by excursions on race days. It was provided with a long, flat canopy for protection from the weather. Beyond the passenger platform, track continued through an opening in the rear wall directly into a brick goods shed. The coal yard was to the south of the station on the down side. On the up side were a signal box stables and an engine shed.

The history of the engine shed is not clear. The Newmarket Railway had its own locomotives so there must have been an engine facility of some kind when the line opened, but this may have closed when the Eastern Counties Railway leased the line in October 1848. In 1880 the Great Eastern Railway opened a timber single-road through engine shed with a 45ft turntable, water tower (fed from a nearby well) and workshops; it housed one 0-6-0 loco. This was demolished in 1932 to make room for a new 60ft turntable required for the larger locomotives in use at that time. This stabling point remained in use until the early 1960s, but by that time the turntable was insufficient, and engines were turned using the Warren Hill/Snailwell Junction/Chippenham Junction triangle.

When the line from Newmarket to Ely opened on 1 September 1879, bringing additional through traffic, the awkward reversal was avoided by opening a new island platform at a slightly lower level to the east of the original terminus. The new platform was usually referred to as the Lower station. For some years Newmarket was, in effect, two separate stations although they did share a restaurant. The original single upper platform was used by trains from Cambridge terminating at Newmarket while the lower island was used by through trains to Bury and Ely. The two platforms were joined by a footbridge at the north end. The through platform was sheltered by a canopy.

Newmarket was home to all the major British racing and training stables which meant there was constant inward/outward traffic in horses going to and coming from race meetings all over the country. Added horse traffic came from the annual sales at Tattersalls in December and the bloodstock sales which took place at the spring, summer and autumn race meetings. Around the turn of the twentieth century around 12,500 horses were being dealt with annually.

Newmarket station was replaced with a much larger facility half-a-mile south on 7 April 1902. The new station had limited goods facilities and the old terminus was retained as the town's goods station. After closure to passengers the old station continued to deal with increasing horse and general parcel traffic, but the passenger platform was retained for race specials and was also occasionally used by grooms accompanying horses until at least 26 July 1954. 25 horse boxes could be accommodated at one time in this platform with a further 50 in the adjoining island platform which was also used at busy times, such as the December horse sales. The adjacent goods and shunting yard grew over the next decades; heavy horses were used for shunting individual goods wagons and were stabled adjacent to the turntable.

During the early part of World War 1, large numbers of troops were present in Newmarket, with tented camps set up on Warren Hill and other parts of the Heath. The railway and goods yard were busy moving troops and armaments and the old station building was used as a temporary hospital for wounded soldiers. After a decline in traffic in the inter-war years the goods yard was once again busy during World War 2 handling armaments including tanks and armoured vehicles. In addition thousands of tons of road-making and building materials for the many airfields being constructed in East Anglia were dealt with. Race meetings continued throughout the war years and many race specials had to be dealt with, in addition to the military traffic.

The goods yard remained busy through the 1950s and into the 1960s. The trainshed had been demolished by the early 1960s. In 1960 17,461 parcels were handled. Goods leaving the station included caravans, agricultural implements, fertilizers and barley; incoming traffic included coal and paper imported from the USA. Horse traffic remained heavy with 1,073 horses being despatched from the yard and 1,573 received. Newmarket was the last British Railways depot to withdraw horses for shunting. They were retained there until 1967 to move special vehicles used for transporting racehorses. Horses had been used to haul vehicles from the earliest days of the railways. Although locomotives could move heavier loads, horses were cheaper and more flexible, so for many years were kept to shunt at small depots. The yard closed on 3 April 1967 and the track was lifted the following year. The buildings survived until 1981. There was an outcry when they were demolished as the colonnaded front of the building was supposed to be listed. Permission to demolish was approved as the building had become too costly to maintain and sufficient funds for preservation could not be raised.

The site has now been lost under Armstong Close which was built on a raised platform that once supported the station. A retaining wall remains behind five cottages, presumably ex-railway cottages on the lower edge of the site, on All Saints Road. This latter road curves round and runs alongside the old station site to its junction with Old Station Road.

In 1897 a narrow gauge railway was laid from Cheveley Park to Newmarket station. Cheveley Park is the oldest stud in Newmarket and was owned by John Manners, 5th Duke of Rutland. In 1892 he sold it to Sir Harry McCalmont who later became MP for Newmarket. The narrow gauge railway was laid during the construction of the new Cheveley Hall. The railway was used to haul building materials from the station to the construction site. There are two photos here.

BRIEF HISTORY OF THE NEWMARKET RAILWAY
The first proposal for a railway to serve Newmarket came in 1845 when a prospectus for the ‘Newmarket and Chesterford Railway with a branch to Cambridge ‘ was issued in October for a 17½-mile line from half a mile north of Chesterford on the Eastern Counties Railway's London - Cambridge line which opened on 30 July 1845. The proposed line would provide a fast commuter route between Newmarket and the Capital.

The promoters were lucky to obtain the services of engineers Robert Stephenson, who already had an extensive portfolio of new lines, and John Braithwaite, who had been Engineer-in-Chief to the Eastern Counties Railway until May 1843.

The proposed new line quickly received much social and political support including that of John Manners, 5th Duke of Rutland, who owned the Cheveley Park Estate. Cheveley Park is the oldest stud in Newmarket, with evidence that the site has been used for breeding horses since the reign of Athelstan (924–939). While many new railways were constructed primarily to serve industry, the influential Jockey Club was of the opinion that “a railway to Newmarket would not only be a great convenience to parties anxious to participate in the truly British sport of racing but would enable Members of Parliament to superintend a race and run back to London in time for the same night’s debate“. As a result, the Company’s Bill was unopposed and had an easy passage through Parliament, receiving Royal assent on 16 July 1846.

Share capital of £350,000 was authorised with borrowing powers of £116,666. The Act contained a number of unusual clauses including one that forbade the company from taking on board or setting down passengers at Cambridge station or within three miles of the station between 10am and 3pm on Sundays. Any contravention would incur a £5 per person fine payable to Addenbrooke’s Hospital or another charity nominated by the University.

The contract for construction was awarded to the well known railway contractor Thomas Jackson, and the ceremony for the ‘turning of the first sod’ took place at Dullingham on 30 September 1846.

On 11 November 1846 the N & C convened a shareholders’ meeting to approve an agreement with the Eastern Counties Railway to lease the main line between Newmarket and Chesterford and the Cambridge branch upon completion. Following objections from the Eastern Counties this was not approved and, as a reprisal, the N & C proposed a line from Chesterford to make a connection with the Great Northern Railway (under construction at that time) at Royston. This would have provided and independent route into East Anglia using connections with the Norfolk Railway at Thetford, and the Eastern Union Railway at Bury St Edmunds.

In June 1847 the Company obtained Acts to extend its line to Bury with a branch to Ely and to Thetford, which would have provided a new through route to Norwich with a connection to the Norfolk Railway which ran from Brandon to Norwich and Yarmouth. None of the lines were built at this time due in part to friction between the Eastern Counties and the Norfolk Railway, with the Newmarket & Chesterford Railway becoming a pawn in the acrimonious negotiations between the two larger companies.

While these complex ‘games’ were being played out, construction of the twin-track line proceeded rapidly, and in 1847 the Newmarket & Chesterford Railway changed its name to the Newmarket Railway.

Further unsuccessful negotiations with the Eastern Counties Railway to lease or amalgamate with Newmarket Railway took place in February 1848. Following this failure to reach an agreement, the Newmarket Company approached the Norfolk Railway who agreed to transfer the proposed Thetford – Newmarket route to them. This proposal would have diverted around £40,000 worth of traffic away from the ECR onto the Newmarket Railway but, before an agreement was reached, the ECR changed its mind and approached the Newmarket Company with a new proposal. An agreement was reached on 27 March allowing the ECR to take over the management of the line. As a result, the Newmarket Company deferred its agreement with the Norfolk Railway and abandoned its own scheme to extend its main line south-west to Royston. As part of their agreement, the ECR would provide funds to liquidate the liabilities of the Newmarket Railway and to complete the Cambridge branch. Newmarket shareholders would receive a guaranteed dividend of 3 per cent for two years and, thereafter, 3 per cent.

On 3 January 1848 the Newmarket Railway opened its main line to goods traffic, opening fully on 4 April 1848, with intermediate stations (from south to north) at Bourn(e) Bridge, Balsham Road, Westley (later renamed Six Mile Bottom) and Dullingham. The rolling stock included six tender locomotives (Twelve were ordered but only six were delivered, the remainder going to the Stockton & Darlington Railway). built by Gilkes, Wilson and Company of Middlesbrough, first class, second class and third class carriages, luggage vans and horse boxes. The Company timetable for August 1848 shows four passenger trains on weekdays in each direction with two on Sundays. At that time passengers wishing to continue to Bury St Edmunds had to travel by horse and carriage from Newmarket. The result of the three months up to 30 June 1848, showed that the total traffic receipts were £3,085 7s 7d and the running expenses £2,059 5s 7d, showing a balance of £1,026 2s Od. The Newmarket Company ran its own line for only ten months with the ECR taking control of the management on 2 October 1848. This agreement still, however, had to be approved by ECR shareholders.

By this time the fortunes of ‘Railway King’ George Hudson had begun to decline. Hudson had been appointed Chairman of the ailing Eastern Counties Railway in 1845. He was interested in the ECR as he felt it offered an opportunity for an alternative route from York to London, although the truth was the ECR had an appalling reputation for time-keeping and safety at this time. Hudson immediately ordered the payment of a generous dividend for the shareholders.

In 1848 a pamphlet called ‘The bubble of the age’ or ‘The fallacy of railway investment, Railway Accounts and Railway dividends’ alleged that the dividend of Hudson’s companies was paid out of capital rather than revenue. Hudson had been borrowing money at a high interest rate to keep some of his companies afloat, and many of these companies were left in a difficult position with falling revenues in an economic depression and little scope for future shareholder dividends. By October 1848 it seemed doubtful whether the disgruntled ECR shareholders would approve the agreement with the Newmarket Railway. At the ECR’s Annual General Meeting on 28 February 1849 Hudson and his Directors decided not to put the confirmation of the agreement before the shareholders. Hudson decided not to attend to face the wrath of the shareholders, and within a short time he was forced to resign and the agreement with the Newmarket Railway was scuppered.

Having taken over control of the line without the agreement of its shareholders the ECR did its best to force the Newmarket Railway out of business by forcing exorbitant running costs on the company. The ECR introduced a charge of 1s 5d a mile for locomotives, much in excess of the normal rate elsewhere, and it also charged the Newmarket Railway £600 a year for the management or rather, as the Chairman of the Newmarket Railway had no hesitation in calling it, the ‘mismanagement’ of the line.

During the three months to 4 January 1849 the Newmarket Company made a profit of only £704, out of which they had to pay bond interest of £2,000, a problem rendered all the more difficult because the Eastern Counties Railway held on to even this small balance on the grounds of alleged other claims; in addition the Newmarket Company had to defray out of capital the cost of maintaining the permanent way and stations.

On 22 March 1849 a committee was set up to look into the affairs of the company. The committee was chaired by Cecil Fane, a Commissioner in Bankruptcy. In his report presented on 14 May 1849 Fane was of the opinion that the only way of saving the company was to construct the Cambridge branch.

The Newmarket Railway considered regaining control of the line and approaching contractor Thomas Jackson to take over the operation; nothing came of this or a further appeal to the Eastern Counties Railway for more lenient terms. Without funds to pay Jackson to build the Cambridge branch it was soon clear that the only option was to close the line which was quickly effected without consulting the shareholders. The line closed to all traffic on 30 June 1850 just 2½ years after it opened, and Newmarket lost its rail connection. The ECR took all the company’s rolling stock in lieu of existing debts.

With no income, and mounting debts, the company had no option other than to go into administration under the control of Commissioner Fane who soon made it clear that he was unimpressed by the manner in which the directors had closed the line without calling a shareholders’ meeting. He criticised the decision to build the line from Chesterford (a small village) rather than Cambridge (a large town) and reprimanded the Board for mishandling negotiations with the Norfolk and Eastern Counties Railways. A meeting of shareholders was eventually called on 27 July 1850 at which the existing Newmarket board was replaced by Cecil Fane and a new board of Directors.

The line was reopened between Newmarket and Chesterford on 9 September 1850 using rolling stock borrowed from the Eastern Counties Railway. G W Brown was appointed Manager, and he was quickly able to increase revenue and reduce running costs. All outstanding debts were renegotiated and settled amicably, and Fane was even able to convince the ECR to permit trains to run into its station at Cambridge, avoiding the unnecessary expense of a separate station. Under the Eastern Counties and Newmarket Railways Arrangements Act 1852 the ECR agreed that in any year after the opening of the Cambridge branch in which the revenue was insufficient to pay a dividend of 3 per cent on the Newmarket Company’s capital of £350,000, the Eastern Counties Railway would make it good up to not exceeding £5000 in any one year. In the first year of operations this agreement cost the ECR £3,705 9s 7d.

At this point it’s worth mentioning that some strange discrepancies appeared in the track mileages which ‘moved’ Dullingham and Six Mile Bottom stations much closer to Newmarket. Although technically this would mean a loss of revenue at the Newmarket end of the line, it had the knock-on effect of increasing mileages from Newmarket, Dullingham and Six Mile Bottom to the Chesterford section stations. This may account for the high fares applied to the latter section during the course of its existence, thus hastening its demise. However, although skulduggery is suspected it is not known if this was indeed the case. The suspect mileages appear in a number of surviving Bradshaw’s Guides but, significantly, not until the ECR had taken over operation of the line.

In 1851 the ECR published a guide aimed at promoting their routes and the places they served. The entry for the Newmarket & Chesterford would do little to attract custom. 'The line is sixteen miles long; and, as a pecuniary speculation, has been a most unfortunate one. It was constructed by an independent Company, but is now worked by the Eastern Counties. Chesterford we have already noticed; and between that place and Newmarket, there is little worth attention.'

Having settled the debts owed to Thomas Jackson the contractor agreed to finish the line at a cost not exceeding £9,000. Cecil Fane had an ingenious plan for financing the construction costs. As built, the Chesterford – Cambridge line was double track, but it was clear that the volume of traffic that would be handled by the line once the Cambridge branch was opened could easily be accommodated on a single line with passing places. On the southern section of the line one set of rails and sleepers were lifted, and these provided 11 miles of track and sleepers which could be used for the Cambridge branch, far in excess of what was needed.

Construction of the single-track branch was far from plain sailing as the connection with the Eastern Counties Railway at Cambridge proved problematic. The plans approved by Parliament showed a curve at the junction with a radius of 20 chains but, owing to circumstances beyond the control of the company, it was necessary to realign the curve to one with a radius of only 8 chains. This deviation required the consent of the Commissioners of Railways but was turned down as the company’s powers of compulsory purchase had expired and the approval of the landowners involved had not been received. The impasse was eventually resolved and the line was completed. An inspection place on 7 October 1851 and, with approval now received, the Cambridge branch opened to all traffic on 9 October 1851.

By this time it was clear that the Chesterford line would never be profitable so it closed permanently on 9 October 1851, coinciding with the opening of the Cambridge branch; the service from Newmarket was diverted onto the new branch from that date despite the distance between London and Newmarket increasing by 7½ miles. The last timetable issued in August 1851 showed three trains in each direction and no Sunday service. Trains stopped at the intermediate stations only by request. Two intermediate stations on the Cambridge branch were provided at Cherry Hinton and Fulbourne. Neither of these was ready for the opening of the line and they did not appear in Bradshaw until August 1852. Cherry Hinton station was very short-lived closing permanently in March 1854.

The new line was an immediate success and quickly revived the fortunes of the company. Four months later the Company declared a dividend of 1s 6d with a further dividend of 5s 0d being paid the following August: a paltry return on a £25 share, but considering that the company had just come out of bankruptcy it was a promising rebirth.

An Act of 1852 authorised the Eastern Counties Railway to purchase the Newmarket Company at any time. It exercised this right and took over the Newmarket Company’s bond debt of £116,666, and by 30 June 1854 had paid off the debentures of £210,000 in cash which they had issued in purchase of the Newmarket Company’s lines. They thus paid £326,923 for 13 miles of line between Cambridge and Newmarket and included the redundant track between Six Mile Bottom and Great Chesterford which was not officially abandoned until 1858. The ECR timetable for 1853 shows three trains in each direction on weekdays, with trains stopping at the four intermediate stations only by request. The ECR minutes for 10 August 1854 record that the line of the route from Six Mile Bottom is to be abandoned and the land offered to the original owners. An ECR working timetable from September 1856, five years after the southern section of the Newmarket Railway closed but two years before the Act of Abandonment, confirms there was no goods traffic over the old line, and it is likely there was no traffic of any kind after 1851. The minutes of the ECR make reference to ‘Chesterford Junction’ at least as late as 1856 but not of the junction at Six Mile Bottom after the 1851 closure. This suggests the junction at Six Mile Bottom was removed but the remaining single track remained connected at Chesterford, probably until after the Abandonment Act which was passed on 8 July 1858.

N & C Fares
Newmarket - London

1st class

2nd class

3rd Class

Parly

August 1848

14/2

10/6

6/6

5/5½

March 1850

15/-

11/-

7/-

5/5½

May 1851

15/6

11/6

7/6

5/5½

Between 1852 and 1854 the Newmarket line was extended north to Bury St Edmunds, thereby completing the route to Ipswich. This extension involved tunnelling 1099yd under the Warren Hill training grounds to the north of the 1848 station. When the Bury St Edmunds extension opened on 1 April 1854, trains running into the old terminus then had to reverse out of the station to continue their journey to Bury.

Under an Act of 1862 the Eastern Counties, East Anglian, Newmarket, Eastern Union and Norfolk Railways and about thirty smaller companies amalgamated to form the Great Eastern Railway.

Doubling of the line between Cambridge and Six Mile Bottom was completed in the second half of 1875. When the line from Newmarket to Ely opened on 1 September 1879, bringing additional through traffic, the awkward reversal was avoided by opening a new island platform at a slightly lower level east of the original terminus. The new platform was usually referred to as the ‘Lower’ station. For some years Newmarket was, in effect, two separate stations although they did share a restaurant. The original single upper platform was used by trains from Cambridge terminating at Newmarket while the lower island was used by through trains to Bury and Ely.

On 14 September 1880 GER minutes record a proposed revival of the abandoned line between Chesterford to Six Mile Bottom and an estimate of the cost of land and works was requested. Although a revival of the line was again discussed in 1892 and 1893 it was always deferred and no action was ever taken.

On 21 April 1885 a non-timetabled station called Warren Hill was opened at the north end of Warren Hill Tunnel. This was built to cater for the increasing number of passengers arriving from the east and the north on race days.

At Cambridge major platform lengthening and remodelling of the main building took place in 1863, and the station layout was altered in 1896 by deviating the Newmarket line approaches with a new alignment curving round to the north of the Romsey Town area of Cambridge to a new junction with the Ely – Cambridge line at Coldham Lane Junction. This avoided the delays caused by the previous difficult crossing of main lines to enter Cambridge station. The old alignment was retained as a siding for carriage storage until at least 1910 but disconnected at Brookfields - the point of commencement of the deviation half a mile west of the former Cherry Hinton station.

Newmarket was home to all the major British racing and training stables which resulted in constant inward/outward traffic in horses going to and coming from race meetings all over the country. Additional horse traffic came from the annual sales at Tattersalls in December and the bloodstock sales which took place at the spring, summer and autumn race meetings. Around the turn of the twentieth century around 12,500 horses were being dealt with annually.

Newmarket station was replaced with a much larger facility half-a-mile south on 7 April 1902. The town’s grand 'New' station opened together with the construction of the access road ‘The Avenue' giving better connections to the town and racecourse. Both were made possible by substantial financial backing from millionaire racehorse owner Colonel Harry McCalmont of Cheveley Park. The new station lacked goods facilities, and the old terminus was retained as the town's goods station and for all horse traffic. It was also used by excursion trains on race days until at least 1954.

During WW1 the railway and goods yard were busy moving troops and armaments. The old terminus building was used as a temporary respite/hospital for wounded soldiers. At the 1923 Grouping the London & North Eastern Railway took control of all the lines around Newmarket, but already there had been a slow decline in rail travel owing to emerging road transport. WW2 was an exceptionally busy period for strategically positioned Newmarket station when traffic increased by 600%. The goods yard proved invaluable for the handling of armaments, including tanks and armoured vehicles as well as thousands of tons of road-making and building material for the many airfields under construction in East Anglia. Race meetings continued throughout the war years and many race specials had to be dealt with in addition to the military traffic.

Warren Hill station closed in 1945. After the arduous work and neglected maintenance during the war the rail network and rolling stock were in a poor condition; the LNER suffered near-bankruptcy and could not afford the repairs and improvements necessary. 1948 brought Nationalisation with the lines around Newmarket coming under the control of the Eastern Region of British Railways.

Newmarket station remained busy through the 1950s and into the 1960s and the line was never under threat from the Beeching axe. Two of the three remaining intermediate stations, Fulbourne and Six Mile Bottom were, however, closed on 2 January 1967.

Newmarket goods yard closed on 3 April 1967. The line between Cambridge (Coldham Lane Junction) and Chippenham Junction, excepting the section through Warren Hill tunnel which always was single track, was singled between 1980 and 1985 with the exception of a long passing loop at Dullingham, and the station buildings at Newmarket were sold leaving just the north end of the station in use; it had been unstaffed since 2 January 1967. The station is, at the time of writing,served by one train an hour in each direction between Cambridge and Ipswich, with the service operated by Abellio Greater Anglia.

Click here to see a 1904 1:10,560 (6") map showing the original approach to Cambridge station and the 1896 deviation.

Tickets from Michael Stewart. (0621 was issued on 12 August 1899 and is the only ticket issued when the station was open to passengers. The other tickets are for race specials after closure in 1902. Newmarket HL is the old station. Both tickets are to stations the served race courses). Bradshaw from Alan Young. Eastern Counties Railway timetables from Great Eastern Railway Society. Share certificate from Roger Newman.

Click here to see a 1964 Rank film 'Turn of the Wheel' which includes horse shunting at Newmarket. (Colour - 9 minutes)

1885 1:500 OS Town Plan shows the layout of the station after the through island platform had been added. The goods shed is located beyond the passenger trainshed which spans the original single platform. The later island platform is seen to the right of the trainshed; the shaded area indicates the extent of its canopy. To the right of that, the 1879 through island platform is seen, again with a canopy for weather protection. A footbridge is sited at the north end of the through platform to the high level island platform. Click here for a larger version.

1902 1:2,500 OS map. The goods yard is to the north of the station with the coal depot to the south. On the approach to the station a private siding serves a malthouse and, opposite, there is a turntable on the approach to a single-road thorough engine shed. A well is shown to the right of the turntable.

Looking north towards Newmarket station c1905. The island platform, which was a later addition, was built outside the trainshed. It was mainly used for special excursions on race days and was provided with a flat canopy. The low level through line to Bury St Edmunds and Ely is seen on the right. The two lines converge to pass through the single-track Warren Hill Tunnel. The low level island platform, which had a loop round it, cannot be made out apart from the stairs at the north end of the platform.
Photo from Railway Magazine (November 1908)

During the early part of WW1 large numbers of troops were present in Newmarket, with tented camps set up on Warren Hill and other parts of the Heath. Columns of marching soldiers, others on horseback, passed along the High Street and Old Station Road, cheered on by enthusiastic crowds. Returning wounded soldiers are seen here. The old station building was used as a temporary
hospital for wounded soldiers.
Photo from Roger Newman collection

Wounded soldiers at Newmarket station during WW1. There were also two auxiliary hospitals in Newmarket during WW1; Rous Hospital, and Severals House Hospital.
Photo from Roger Newman collection

Aerial view of Newmarket station in 1920. The low level island canopy has been removed as this platform was not used after Newmarket’s new station opened in 1902.

A T19 4-4-0 hauls a northbound passenger train through the 1854 low level through platform at Newmarket c1920s. The station closed 7 April 1902 when Newmarket Warren Hill opened at the north end of Warren Hill tunnel. The loop around the west side of the island has been removed and relaid as a siding away from the platform.Photo from John Mann collection

Although closed to normal passenger traffic in 1902, the original platform was still occasionally used after that date for grooms accompanying horses until at least July 1954. This picture is c1930s. No.8823 is a Gresley-designed Claud Hamilton D16/3, built by the GER at Stratford works in November 1909. After nationalisation it was renumbered 62574 by BR and withdrawn from Cambridge shed on 31 December 1955 and cut up the following year. This class of loco was used extensively for mixed traffic on the Cambridge - Ipswich line between the 1920s and the1960s.Copyright photo from John Mann and Roger Newman collections

Newmarket station forecourt in the mid 1930s. At this time the station handled only goods traffic and some race day specials.
Photo from John Mann collection

Looking north along the original platform at Newmarket station c1930s. The opening on the left at the back of the trainshed goes straight into the goods shed.
P hoto from John Mann collection

The site of the small engine shed at Newmarket in May 1937. Note how the original 45ft turntable has moved (see 1902 map above) and a new 60ft turntable built. This required the demolition of the shed building and workshop in 1932, leaving just the pit and water tank. The tank was fed from a well nearby. The stabling point seen here remained in use until the early 1960s.